Here’s a small selection of alternatives to Bitcoin – each of which has its own advantages. All of them share Bitcoin’s fundamental strengths, however – minimal or zero transfer fees, and freedom from traditional banking restrictions.

Bitcoin’s mysterious creator, who goes by the pseudonym ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’, could be about to have his identity made public, after a series of emails from the address that has been his only point of contact with the world since 2011.

Gamers and cellphone users were targeted by criminal groups around the world this week – while retailers continued to suffer at the hands of POS malware, and a phishing campaign highlighted just how hot Bitcoin is right now.

A new tactic where waves of Bitcoin wallet phishing emails are targeted at corporations has proved a success for the criminals behind it – with nearly 2.7% of victims clicking on the malicious link embedded in the two waves of 12,000 emails.

Malware written specifically for DVR recorders used for the output of surveillance cameras has forced some machines to mine Bitcoin – although the low-powered machines are ‘very bad’ miners, Wired points out.

Bitcoin’s developers have released a new version of the software, which includes a long-awaited fix for the “transaction malleability” bug which is said to have brought down the Mt Gox exchange – and Mt Gox staff have ‘found’ 200,000 BTC in an abandoned wallet in the exchange.

A file of material purporting to include detailed information on trades at the Bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, has surfaced online, after attackers targeted the personal blog and Reddit account of CEO Mark Karpeles.